The present invention relates to a reactor, plant and processes for removing carbon dioxide from industrial gas streams such as, but by no means exclusively limited to, flue gases of coal fired powered stations.
The capture and storage of carbon dioxide is a worldwide issue due to its importance in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the context of the global climate change. It is now integral to a low emissions future for coal fired power generation. As result, increasing resources are being dedicated to research and development in the field of CO2 capture; with the major objective of reducing the cost for CO2 removal. Among all the available technologies which can in principle be used for CO2 capture from flue gases, absorption processes based on chemical solvents are currently the preferred option due to current widespread use and their high capture efficiency and selectivity. However, handling and removing carbon dioxide from industrial gas streams such as power plant flue gases that produce in order of 3000 t/day of carbon dioxide is a technical and economic challenge. The main reasons attributing to this are:                technical and economic costs associated with scaling up of conventional absorber and stripper columns that are constructed of steel;        limiting equipment parameters including column diameters, available shell and plate sizes for heat exchangers and reboilers; and        maldistribution of fluid mediums in absorber and stripper columns.        
The present invention is based on the realization that the removal of carbon dioxide from industrial gas streams can be achieved using single stream processing equipment that reduces operating and capital costs previously thought to be impractical.